The Truth Comes Out
Picking up (Y/N) from school had gotten extremely hard once she got to high school. She sometimes would be carrying a large canvas from her art class she wanted to hang up in her room at home. Coulson was having trouble fitting the canvases she had in Lola.
Thankfully, he had decided to buy her a car for her eighteenth birthday. Unfortunately, she would be out of school by then. Which meant that poor Lola’s trunk was being stuffed canvases and other art supplies most of the time.
Today (Y/N) walked out of the school with a spectacular looking black eye that had him on high alert. It wasn’t often a fifteen-year-old girl had a shiner like that, and he knew it didn’t come from from some random accident.
Someone had punched her.
“What happened?” Coulson demanded as she got into the car. Today she didn’t have a giant canvas, just her backpack that was now sitting in her lap as she hugged it.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” She muttered.
“(Y/N)-“
“Dad, I’m fine.” She snapped, hugging her bag tighter. “Can we just go home? I have a lot of homework.”
Coulson sighed, starting the engine up and driving out of the parking lot. He kept glancing over at (Y/N), gauging how fast her black eye would be healing. Thankfully, (Y/N) didn’t seem to notice just how fast she healed. Coulson was worried she would one day figure out that she wasn’t a normal kid, and he would have to explain to her that she was adopted, and how he had ended up adopting her.
He would be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid to tell her. He wasn’t sure how she would react. (Y/N) was usually well mannered, a little quiet at times, opting to stay by herself. Coulson had noticed over the years that she hadn’t made any long-term friendships. She was a loner by nature, and it concerned him slightly. He wanted her to make friends, to be as normal as possible…but it seemed that she just wasn’t made to make friends easily.
He pulled into the garage, parking the car. Before he even turned off the engine, (Y/N) got out of the car, slamming the door before heading up to the door to enter the kitchen. He sighed, pocketing his keys as he went after her. Coulson found her going into her room, slamming the door.
He knocked lightly on the door, “(Y/N)?”
“Leave me alone, dad, I’m fine.” She muttered in reply.
“(Y/N), I know when you’re not fine.” He pointed out. “Just…talk to me, sweetheart, okay?”
She threw the door open, and Coulson got a closer look at the black eye. It was definitely from being punched, and he noticed that it was already darkening as if it were healing. Bruises always got worse before they got better.
“I’m fine.”
“Stop saying that, kid. You’re not fine.” Coulson growled, grabbing her chin gently and turning her head to get a better look at the black eye. “Who hit you?”
She avoided looking at him as he let go of her. She let out a huff of a sigh.
“Alex Reynolds.” She grumbled in defeat.
“A boy hit you?” Coulson blanched. “What the hell?”
“To be fair, I punched him first.” (Y/N) replied as she crossed her arms.
“Why did you punch him?”
She sighed, clearly annoyed with having to talk about it. “He was picking on this girl, calling her all these mean names because she’s a lesbian. I got tired of his mouth, so I punched him in the mouth. Once he stopped crying he punched me in the eye.”
“Why didn’t the school call me?” Coulson growled, already planning on speaking to the principal for keeping something like this from him.
“Because it happened behind the school by the football field.” (Y/N) sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. “Look, it’s not a big deal, dad-“
“You got punched, (Y/N)!” Coulson cut her off. “This is a huge deal! What if he really hurt you?”
(Y/N) snorted, “Yeah, I doubt that could happen.”
Coulson frowned, his chest tightening in fear. “Why do you say that?”
“Dad, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not normal.” She muttered, looking slightly embarrassed. “I mean, remember when I was five and I fell off my bike and needed stitches? Apparently, you’re not supposed to heal that fast from a wound like that. Then there’s the fact that I can run the mile course in PE in under four minutes without even trying.”
Coulson blinked. So (Y/N) had finally realized she wasn’t normal. He swallowed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, “You already knew that, didn’t you? Dad, are you not telling me something?”
“I-“ He stopped, hesitating. “I think we should see Uncle Nick.”
“Another not normal thing,” She muttered as she followed him back to the garage. “I have an uncle who’s the director of SHIELD.”
(Y/N) stared at the photos in front of her. They were the photos from seventeen years ago when she had been found in the New Mexican desert. Coulson could see she was shocked to find out exactly just how different she was to everyone else. She sat the photos down, picking up the gold bracelet that had been in SHIELD custody since Coulson had officially adopted her. She inspected the delicate engravings on the bracelet.
“(Y/N)?” Coulson murmured nervously. “I need you to say something, sweetheart. I don’t like how quiet you’re being.”
“Why are you just telling me now that I’m…adopted?” She looked up at him, and he could see tears were starting to well in her bright eyes.
Coulson sighed, hesitating for a brief moment. “I’ve been terrified you weren’t going to take it well.” He finally admitted. “And even though you’re adopted, you’re still my daughter. That’s never going to change, sweetheart.”
“I…I’m from a different planet?”
“We think so.” Fury nodded, looking slightly worried for his adoptive niece. “There’s not much for us to go on, considering we didn’t even think there were others out there or that they’d send a baby to our planet.”
“So…you don’t know what I am?” She whispered as the tears began to fall. “I’m just…I’m just lost. I don’t belong here-“
"Hey,” Coulson stopped her, grabbing her hand. “You do belong here, (Y/N). Don’t for one second think that this changes anything about you. You’re still (Y/N) Carter, my daughter—the painter. You’re still the same person-“
“I’m not even a person!” She shouted, wrenching her hand away from his. “I’m—I’m an alien! And why was I even sent here? Why didn’t my real parents-“ Her voice cracked as her bottom lip began to quiver. “Why didn’t they want me?”
Coulson sighed, his heart breaking as he saw how distraught his daughter was. If he could find her real parents and shake some sense into them for getting rid of such an amazing person he would. But he couldn’t do that, all he could do was be there for (Y/N) and show her that he loved her more than anything.
“I don’t know,” He admitted quietly, squeezing her shoulder. “But I do know that I love you, (Y/N). You’re the best thing to happen to me.”
She got to her feet, “I- I need some air.” She took off out the door. Coulson cursed under his breath before racing after her. He saw the front door was open, meaning that she had left the house. He hurried out to the porch, noticing that (Y/N) was nowhere to be found.
“Where’d she go?” Fury demanded as he joined Coulson on the porch.
“I don’t know, she could be anywhere by now.” Coulson muttered as he took off down the sidewalk to hopefully see if (Y/N) was nearby. He looked around, seeing that she was truly gone. An idea struck him, and he took off running down the sidewalk with Fury on his heels.
Finally, they made it to the park, and Coulson raced in to find that (Y/N) was sitting next to a pond on a bench. Her head was in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she cried. Coulson’s heart shattered at the sight, and he hurried over to her.
He quietly sat on the bench next to her, waiting for her to notice him. He stared at the calm water of the pond, feeling a sense of nostalgia hit him under the pain of knowing how distraught his daughter was.
Once (Y/N)’s crying slowed, he spoke.
“When you were little, I would bring you to this park.” He murmured, a small, wistful smile on his face. “We would feed the ducks, and you were so excited to be so close to them. I was always terrified you would fall in, so I always kept a firm hold on you just in case.” He glanced over at her, seeing she was looking up at him with tears still glittering in her eyes. “You asked if we could take one of the ducks home.”
She gave him a small smile, “I really wanted a duck.”
“Most kids want a puppy, but not you.” Coulson chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder as she sniffled. “I even tried to talk you into a puppy, and you just kept telling me No, daddy! I wanna duck!”
(Y/N) laughed quietly, “Is it bad I still want a duck?”
“We are not getting a duck, (Y/N).” Coulson said sternly, but he was smiling at her. The smile fell slightly as she looked away from him at the water. Her brow furrowed in the way that told him she was thinking. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, sweetheart. I guess…I guess I didn’t want to see you upset. I don’t know what it’s like to be adopted, but I want you to know I love you so much, alright?”
“I love you, too, dad.” She mumbled, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her jacket. “I just…I can’t help but wonder why my real parents didn’t want me. Why they sent me to a completely different planet…”
“That’s a normal thing to wonder,” Coulson nodded, pulling her closer. “But I don’t want you to let it consume you, okay? What matters is that you live your life how you want.”
“I want to go to art school,” She smiled up at him.
Coulson nodded, “Then you’re going to art school.” He kissed her head. “I love you, kid.”
She chuckled, “Love you, too.”